Samsung accuses LG of technology theft

The two are South Korea’s technology giants, but it seems LG was not above a little industrial espionage, so a Seoul court has been told. Samsung has formally accused its flat-panel rival LG of being behind the theft of key OLED display technology.

Eleven people, including at least 3 LG executives, have now been indicted in a South Korean court over allegations of industrial espionage. “Executives of LG Display, which lacks OLED technology and related human resources, took the lead in this criminal act in order to overcome their shortcomings as quickly as possible,” Samsung alleged, adding, “Samsung Mobile Display, which takes up about 97 per cent share in the world’s OLED market, is worried about losing tens of trillions of Won due to the latest technology leak.”

However, the accusations are somewhat complicated by the fact that as many as six of those charged are former Samsung employees and local reports suggest that at last one former Samsung worker engineered the release of some information in his attempt to secure a better job at LG.

Samsung is demanding that most difficult of acts for any Oriental company, a humiliating apology from LG. LG, not slow in fighting back, is said to be considering its own action against Samsung for defamation.